Wes planted 2 squash plants this season and I am totally dumbfounded by the number of squash you get from 2 plants…and apparently all at once.  Looking for recipes that will put a dent in the supply of zucchini that is monopolizing my vegetable crisper.

I remembered a recipe I had tried from cookbook author Ottolenghi, turkey and zucchini burgers with a yogurt sumac sauce.  If you have not checked out any of his cookbooks, please do.  This tasty recipe comes from his book Jerusalem.  It is filled with beautiful photos and stories about the food and the city. The recipes are filled with bold, bright flavors of which most were new to me.  The book is a collaboration between Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi.  What I love is Yotam is Israeli and Sami is Palestinian. Both spent their childhoods in Jerusalem, growing up on opposite ends of the city.  Their mutual love of food brought them together in London.  Sharing food brings people together and hopefully helps to transcend our differences.

This dish is easy to prepare, healthy and tasty.  The burgers are made with ground turkey and grated zucchini.  The addition of mint, cilantro, scallions, cumin, cayenne and garlic makes it a party in your mouth.
A dipping sauce of yogurt and sour cream sauce is a cool and refreshing counterbalance to the meat patties.

The sumac in the sauce, an herb that is both tart and fragrant further enhances the dish.  It can be found at Whole Foods, any Middle Eastern store or online.  Though you can increase the lemon in place of the sumac, try to find it.  It has a fragrant, fruity dimension that the lemon does not that I think really sets it apart.  We ate them with a bit of rice the first night and then stuffed in pita bread and topped with tomatoes and fresh grilled corn the following day for lunch.  Yums. Really versatile and almost better the next day as the flavors have had a chance to blend.

Try this recipe and check out the Ottolenghi cookbooks, breathtakingly beautiful and a joy to read.  If you are like me it will open doors to new flavors and foods.

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Turkey and Zucchini Burgers with Sumac Sauce

Ingredients

Burgers

• Approximately 1 pound or 500g ground turkey or chicken
• 1 large zucchini coarsely grated (about 200g in total about 2 cups)
• 3 green onions thinly sliced
• 1 large egg
• 2 tbsp chopped mint
• 2 tbsp chopped coriander
• 2 garlic cloves crushed
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp course ground black pepper
• ½ tsp cayenne
• ~ 1/4 cup of vegetable oil for searing

Sour cream & sumac sauce:

• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 2/3 cup Greek yoghurt
• 1 tsp grated lemon zest
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 small garlic clove crushed
• 1½ tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp sumac
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp black pepper

Instructions

Yogurt sauce

• In a medium sized bowl, combine ingredients for sauce and mix thoroughly. Place in refrigerator to set and chill while making burgers.
• The sauce will mellow with time, feel free to add a bit more sumac and lemon juice to taste.
• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Burgers

• Combine ingredients for burgers in bowl, mixing gently. The mixture is pretty wet. You can omit the egg or squeeze some of the liquid out of the zucchini to make forming patties a little easier.
• Form patties in desired size. I used a 1/4 cup ice cream scoop which made smaller sized patties roughly 1.5 ounces in weight. This made about 15 appetizer sized patties.
• Sear over medium high heat and place on parchment or silpat lined baking sheet.
• Bake in oven for 6-8 minutes.
• Serve with yogurt sauce.